A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future
by Nixi Stasia
Summary: A hundred one-shots of the Professor and Claire's life, if fate had have been kinder. Each chapter is based of a single word requested by you lovely readers. NEW CHAPTER: Jealous.
1. Almost

**AN: Hello and welcome to my newest one-shot collection! This shall be (when it's finished) a collection of 100 one-shots/short stories about the life that Claire and Layton could have had together, if Claire had not died in the time machine experiment. A bit like my one-shot** _Of What Could Have Been_ **only it's not just Layton's mind.**

 **Also, the one-shots in this fic will all be based off of one word, which can be given in by you lovely readers! That'd be great if you could review/PM a one word request for this story!**

 _ **Obviously, I don't own Professor Layton and that belongs to Level-5. I wouldn't have had it in me to kill Claire.**_

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A Hundred Snap Shots Their Lost Future

1- Almost

Hershel Layton was now a Professor. Nothing could be better. The goal he'd been striving for his entire life... After five years of hard work (not including the three year degree in archaeology) he was finally a Professor. He could not be in a better place. After all, not only had he reached the top of his career, at the young age of 27, but he also had the beautiful Claire to share this achievement with. Nothing could be better.

Only moments ago, Claire had rushed off to work. She was a scientist and worked at a nearby research facility as a lab assistant. Hershel had always taken a deep interest in Claire's work life, and not just because she was his sweetheart; he had a deep interest in the world of science himself. This was particularly helpful within the communication in their relationship, as Hershel had always been able to discuss Claire's work with her, with interest, knowledge and the occasional friendly, ethical debate. However, in recent months Claire had been rather quiet about the experiments that she had been assisting in, in the laboratory. Hershel had taken no offence to this, as Claire had explained to him that the work going on in the laboratory was top secret and government funded and protected. She had reassured him that the work was nothing dangerous or any type of weaponry, yet was still top secret and she couldn't disclose any information whatsoever about the research and experiments. But, of course, Hershel understood completely.

Besides, Claire had rushed off to the research facility in such a frantic way, with the words "very important experiment" that he suspected the research would be complete and released for the public very soon.

Thought it was true that Claire had rushed off to work that morning, she had given Hershel a gift just beforehand. A gift to commend and congratulate Hershel on his new position as a Professor. A new hat. A top hat, to be precise. Claire had pointed out that it "wasn't his usual style" and she was certainly right there. The newly appointed Professor of archaeology's normal attire was a red waistcoat and black trousers. The new hat was a dark brown with a orange rim- it clashed rather heavily with his usual outfit. Not replacing the top-hat with his current red cap was unthinkable, considering that Claire gave it to him. He would have to buy a new outfit soon.

After all, as Hershel looked at himself in the mirror, his hat standing proudly, he realised that (not to sound vain, of course) that Claire was right; he did look like _a true gentleman._

The sound of the phone ringing abruptly stole Hershel from his thoughts on his new appearance. He expected it to be his parents, phoning to congratulate him on his new position. He'd phoned yesterday, and had left a voicemail.

"Hello, this is Hershel Layton speaking," He said into the receiver.

"Mr Layton? This is the reception from Gressenheller hospital speaking," The voice on the opposing end responded. "We understand that you are the emergency contact for Miss Claire Marie Foley?"

Hershel froze.

"Yes..." He felt the world stop turning. A road accident on the way to work, perhaps? After all, she had been running extremely fast as she was in such a hurry... "Why? Has Claire been admitted?"

"Unfortunately, yes, Mr Layton," the receptionist, it sounded to be a woman, said. "I'm unable to give you much information as the incident's still being investigated, but an explosion at the Institute for Polydimensional Research has resulted in Miss Foley being severely injured and has been admitted to this hospital."

"Right, thank you," Hershel responded half-mindedly before hanging up the phone. His mind only scanned over the words, searching for the implications to Claire's condition. For now, he only knew one thing: she was alive. That was all that mattered for now.

The next step was to get to the hospital. Taking the car seemed rather illogical, since there had been an explosion along the street that lead to the hospital. No, it was much more logical to run.

-X-

The Professor arrived at the hospital in little less than twenty minutes. He ran, of course. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, his hand holding onto the brim of his new top hat as he ran. He didn't want to lose it to the wind so suddenly- not when it was Claire who gave it to him.

Upon bursting into the hospital entrance, which was much more busy than usual- simply explained by the circumstances of the nearby explosion. It was the closest hospital to the source of the explosion by far. He'd pushed his way, not caring that it was ungentlemanly to do so, to the front of the reception and demanded to know where Claire was. After being told by a rather frustrated receptionist that Claire was on ward 3 on the ground floor, he hurried straight there, and was shown by a nurse which curtained section was where Claire was.

Bursting through the curtains, Hershel finally stopped and found himself in a state of paralysis. He looked down at the bed and saw Claire. By just one look, it appeared that a savage burn down the side of her neck was the most painful of her injuries, but taking a step closer he could see just as many bandages and stitches the redheaded scientist had been given. Her arms, the top of her chest, her face... Not one part of her body had been left unharmed,he suspected; whether it be a bruise or a burn like the one on her neck. But she was alive...

"Oh, Claire..." Hershel sighed rushing over to her bedside and gently taking her hand, not wishing to cause her any pain by squeezing it too hard. "Thank goodness..."

"Mmm..." A small noise came from her throat and she her eyes halved open. "Hershel..."

"Claire..." He sighed deeply again, now brushing her auburn hair with his fingers. "I almost lost you..."

Almost. Not quite.

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 **AN: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **So this story can continue, a one word request would be greatly appreciated. Anything. Any word will do. Literally; the item sitting next to you; what you had for dinner; your favourite colour. Anything. But some words would be great, thank you! :D**

 **Nikki~**


	2. Lullaby

**AN: This is a request from Chloemcg!- Hershel sings Claire a song.**

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A Hundred Snap Shots of Their Lost Future

2-Lullaby

It was almost two o'clock in the morning, and London (at least this area) had fallen asleep. Public transport had stopped at midnight and no other vehicles drove down the Gressenheller streets, rendering the only outside noise the sound of the wind. In every block of flats that aligned the Gressenheller street, there was silence- perhaps the sound of a boiler, or someone snoring. But it was quiet, nonetheless. Not a soul was awake...

That was, apart from Claire Foley in block 28, in flat 3a.

With a frustrated sigh, the redhead pulled the covers around her torso as she shifted position for the third time in the past ten minutes. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, and prayed to fall asleep. She didn't know what was wrong with her! Never had she had such a sudden onset of insomnia before. She went to bed at her usual time: 10:30. She had her usual amount of caffeine during the day: a tea with breakfast, a coffee on her work break, and another cup of tea with Hershel when she got home. She'd slept perfectly fine the night before, nothing traumatic had happened during the day...So why couldn't she sleep?

She rolled over again, this time to lie on her front. The strange thing was that she was rather tired. But no matter how hard she tried, how long she closed her eyes for, she still couldn't get to sleep.

Hershel, who was lying next to her, opened one eye. He'd felt her wriggling about endlessly since the couple went to bed. It was affecting his sleep as well. Just when he'd fall asleep, Claire would move ferociously, perhaps stealing some of the covers, and would wake up immediately.

"Claire...?" Hershel frowned. "Are you all right?"

Claire sighed rather loudly and roughly turned over so she was on her back.

"I can't sleep!" She whispered rather aggressively.

Hershel frowned. "Yes, I'd noticed... It was a rather simple puzzle..."

"That wasn't the puzzle!" Claire replied. "The puzzle is _how_ I'm going to get to sleep."

Hershel chuckled slightly. "Hmm, let me think," He paused for several moments. "Are you stressed at all!"

"No!" Claire exclaimed.

Hershel raised an eyebrow, although it wasn't visible in the dark. "You're tone of voice suggests otherwise..."

"Well..." Claire sighed. "I meant I wasn't stressed before. I am now, but only because I can't sleep!"

"So, in conclusion, you are stressed," Hershel justified.

Claire huffed, folding her arms across her chest, in a strop. If she didn't get to sleep soon, she would have a terrible day tomorrow; she'd be cranky and wouldn't be able to focus at work. Then, she would get in trouble with her boss, Dr Hawkes, if she couldn't concentrate and made mistake after mistake. Then that would make her ever more cranky.

"Fine- I'm stressed!" Claire admitted. "I just can't sleep!"

Hershel chuckled gently and rolled over onto his side, drooping a hand across her waist.

"Aha! I know!" The archaeologist suddenly exclaimed. "I can sing you to sleep."

Now it was Claire's turn to laugh, as she rolled her eyes. "You?! Sing?!" She giggled.

Hershel huffed slightly. "Well, we can give it a go, can't we?"

"Fine..."

"Good, now just relax and close your eyes," Hershel instructed. Swiftly, Claire settled down on her side and closed her eyes.

Hershel began to softly hum softly. It was a light tune, obviously, very gentle and calming. As he hummed, Hershel could almost recognise the tune. He felt as if he were composing the tune as he went along with it, but somehow, it felt like he'd heard the same song a hundred times before. It made him feel rather nostalgic, and soon found himself thinking back to his childhood in Stansbury.

"There, are you feeling more relaxed now?" Hershel questioned once he finished the song.

There was no response. Claire had fallen fast asleep.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!**

 **As always, requests/one word requests are extremely welcome!**

 **Nikki~**


	3. Dress

**AN: This chapter was requested by anon reviewer, Maddy. The word: Dress. And I took this take on it. Cause reasons.**

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A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

3- Dress

"Mother, please, I honestly don't think..." Claire began to protest.

"Hush, now, Claire," The tight lipped woman hushed her fully grown daughter, as she pulled her into a High Street wedding dress shop.

Even from the day she was born, she'd never stood a chance against her Mother. Marie Foley was known to be a rather determined woman, which everyone who knew her found frustrating. She seemed to have a very strict and closed view on the world; everything had to be done a certain way. This trait had been enforced heavily on her daughter, of all people, since she began to walk. She hadn't been fond of Claire's determination to study physics at degree level- she would have been much happier with literature or art. It was Claire's father, a medical doctor, who convinced Marie to support their daughter in her ambitions.

Marie's stern appearance reflected her slightly controlling personality. She wore a tight black cardigan and a white blouse, and a long black skirt. Her hair, which had been the same auburn as Claire's but was no grey, was always pulled into a strained bun. Her features were just as sharp; pin prick eyes, thin-rimmed glasses, and a pointy nose and pursed lips. She reminded children of their headmistress.

"Mother, please, it's not necessary!" Claire exclaimed as she was dragged into the establishment. "We can get a much cheaper dress that's just as nice if we go to..."

"That's not true at all! The dresses here will be much nicer, much less _tacky_ and much more durable," Marie snapped.

Claire rolled her eyes. As she was being pulled along helplessly by her Mother, she thankfully wouldn't see the sarcastic gesture.

"It's only for one day, why would it need to be durable...?" Claire questioned, as her Mother now began to examine each of the dresses that were modelled by mannequins.

"Because what if it rips during the wedding?!" Marie huffed angrily. "That would be rather embarrassing wouldn't it."

 _I'd be a lot more relieved if it ripped and it cost half this much,_ Claire thought as she looked at the price tag for the dress her Mother was currently studying. She took every inch between her fingers at a time, and studied practically the entire dress. As this was a dress through a plastic coat, Claire couldn't see the dress as well, but she could see that she did not care for it. It was far too big and puffy around the bottom, far too embellished, and far too impractical, despite whatever current fashion trends it followed. Claire had always been a complete opposite of a sucker to those things anyhow.

"Try this one on," Marie instructed, passing the dress to Claire and holding it as if it were a baby. Claire simply looked at the dress and bit her lip. "What?" Marie demanded through gritted teeth.

"It's just... It's not exactly my, err- style," Claire replied rather nervously.

"Claire, I am the one paying for this dress, you know," Her Mother reminded, her hands now on her hips.

"Yes, and... Well, wouldn't you prefer it if I wore a dress that _I_ like, seen as it is _my_ wedding."

This was the first time she'd ever stood up to her Mother before, and her lack of confidence whilst doing so wasn't particularly reassuring for what the outcome would be. For Claire was standing incredibly still like a terrified dear, and her voice was rather shaky.

She was incredibly surprised at what happened next.

"Oh, fine, then!" Marie snapped. "Go pick out one you like and try it on."

It turned out to be the cheapest dress the shop sold, but that was purely coincidental. Though it wasn't surprising. The dress was lovely, there was no denying it, but in comparison to most of the other dresses, it was much more plain. It followed the usual wedding dress theme; a long, white dress. It flowed well, with a swift drape, and reached the floor, covering her feet (meaning Claire wouldn't have to worry about buying some particularly nice shoes, either). On the top half of the dress, was a simple circular neckline, lined with a few inches of waste. And then there were sleeves that were full-length.

It fitted Claire perfectly. As the redhead stepped out of the fitting room, Marie even had to hide a smile.

And that was Claire's wedding dress.

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 **AN: Thanks very much for reading. A review would be great, and so would a one word request for the fic!**

 **Nikki~**


	4. Imagination

**AN: Reviews replies!  
**

 **Guest:** Thank you lovely anonymous! Your support is great even when you do not have a fanfiction account. But fanfiction accounts are great and you should get one.

 **Chloemcg:** Ah! Okay. Yep I can certainly do that request. It has been added to the list and if all goes to plan, it will be chapter 9! :D And this chapter's a request from you, too! :)

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A Hundred Snap Shots of Their Lost Future

4- Imagination

It wasn't until three days after the explosion had occurred that Claire properly woke up. On occasion, her eyes would half open and she would mumble a word or two, but she would soon drift back into a deep sleep. But when Hershel made his way into the ward for his daily visit that third day after Claire had been admitted, she was wide awake and sitting up.

"Claire!" A bright smile came across his forlorn face and the length of his strides increased so he could hurry to her side (he didn't think it would be appropriate to run in a hospital).

"Hershel...!" Claire chuckled slightly. Her voice wasn't as loud as Hershel's due to her weakness, but the excitement was there just as much. "They told me you always came as soon as visiting hours began."

"But of course," Hershel nodded, tipping the top hat that Claire had given him those three days ago. "That's what a gentleman does."

"And you've got the hat on too!" Claire beamed with a slight giggle, as she eyed the brown hat with the red rim. "It really does suit you, you know..."

"But, of course," The newly pronounced Professor repeated, as he lent over to give the redhead a gentle kiss on the forehead. "Now, how are you feeling?"

Claire rolled her eyes. He was such a worry pot.

"I'm _fine,"_ Claire chuckled gently, taking his new position to her advantage and cuddling up against him. He wrapped his arm around her cautiously, not wanting to aggravate any of her burns, bruises or breaks. "They said the concussion's almost gone. It was really only a minor one, anyhow. Just in a place that caused me to be unconscious for so long."

Hershel chuckled. Claire seemed to have a rather enthusiastic tone for someone who was talking about their own severe injuries. Still, that was Claire all over.

"How long have you been awake, then?" Hershel asked, as he stroked her arm gently. He was careful to be soft and not to hit her bandaged wrist.

"Oh, about four hours, maybe," Claire shrugged.

Hershel looked at the clock on the wall of the ward. It was quarter past two now. Visiting hours were until eight pm. They had a good five and a half hours left before he had to go, though it was likely that Claire would fall asleep within the next two. He would gladly watch over her whilst she slept, though, he was so grateful she was alive. Still, he wanted to have some time to talk to her after such a close call.

"Do you need anything at all?" The archaeologist questioned.

Claire shook her head. "Just you, right now."

Hershel chuckled and squeezed her as light as he could, whilst still making sure the squeezing was actually noticeable. He must have succeeded as Claire let out a small giggle and no squirms of pain or discomfort.

"I don't think that's an issue," Hershel chuckled.

There was a slight pause between the couple as Claire snuggled against his chest. Silences between the two of them were rather common, and Claire had always taken it as a sign of the closeness between them. No words were needed; they could carry the silence with no awkwardness.

"Tell me a story..." Claire whispered after several moments.

"Hmm?" Hershel raised an eyebrow. "A story? Uh... What about?"

Hershel frowned slightly. A story? Even as a child, fiction had never been an interest of his. Neither was he as imaginative as most people. How could he come up with a story? He had no idea why Claire had even suggested that in the first place.

"Can you _really_ not think of anything?" Claire giggled slightly. Hershel truly was too logical for creativity. "Hmm... I want a story about us."

"But... But you know all of them..."

"Then tell me one that hasn't happened yet..."

"One that hasn't happened yet?"

"Yes!"

"Hmm... Okay..." Hershel thought for a moment before he began. "One day, a few years from now, we will have a young son named Alfendi. He has my hair, but is far luckier to have your eyes. He'll be rather interested in the world around him and enjoy exploring. He'll be a curious young lad, and he'll be ever so interested in my archaeology work. He may even occasionally steal a fossil from my office to analyse himself in his bedroom. He'll have a younger sister, too. She'll be just as curious as him, but not so much about archaeology. She'll be called Lillian. She'll be an even bigger explorer than him. She'll love hide and seek, too. In fact, she'll enjoy it so much that on occasion she won't even ask to play; she'll just go and hide. That may lead to some worry more than once- but we'll always find her, of course."

"Mm... That was nice..." Claire murmured. "You know, if anything like that ever happened, I can't tell you how happy I'd be."

It was a good thing that all of that was just around the corner.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading, guys! If you wanna drop a review, I'd be incredibly grateful. Also, I'd be super happy if you gave a one word request- however many you like! Remember guys, this story can only continue if you send in your requests! As random as you like! :D**

 **Nikki~**


	5. Rainbow

**AN: Review replies!**

 **Okay, so had no reviews last chapter, so thanks for reading, I guess.**

 **This chapter is a request from anon Jess.**

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A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

5- Rainbow

Claire sighed as she made her way into the flat, kicking her shoes off in a huff and dropping her coat in a heap on the floor. She had aimed for the coat hanger, but her mind was on something else, and she'd missed completely. Hershel, who was sitting at the living room desk marking papers, looked around and frowned as he saw the redhead flop down on the sofa with yet, another sigh.

"I take it the interview didn't go to well, then," Hershel tactfully said to his fiancee.

"Well, it's no puzzle, is it?" Claire replied, a hint of coldness in her voice. Hershel didn't take it personally. Money was no longer an issue now that he was a professor, but he understood Claire's determination to have her own career- he knew how much she wanted and deserved one.

"Would you like to talk about what went wrong?" The Professor suggested, turning around properly from the desk, so he could speak to her properly.

"They wanted someone with less ties, I presume," Claire shrugged. Upon seeing Hershel's frown, she went on. "They didn't want someone who was engaged or married- particularly a woman. They don't someone who may want time off in the next few years to raise children."

"Ah..." Hershel nodded. "I thought Dimitri said this laboratory weren't as- err- prejudice as others."

"They weren't, in all fairness," Claire replied. "I was interviewed by a woman, in fact."

"Shall I put the kettle on? I've been fancying a pot of tea myself," Hershel said and stood up to make his way to the kitchen.

Claire sighed again and sank back against the sofa. It had been raining on her way home, and the rain had soaked through her coat to her clothes. Her damp blouse (an interview was a formal occasion so a sweater wouldn't do) was now beginning to rub against the corduroy sofa, leaving a slight wet and darkened patch. It didn't matter, though; it was only a light patch that would dry soon enough.

"Yes, that would be nice," Claire nodded. "The weather's a bit rough out there, too, now."

"Really? It was rather bright and sunny this morning," Hershel remarked as he placed the kettle on the lit stove.

Claire glanced over by the window. Every few seconds a couple of rain drops would hit the window, but they were not frequent nor rapid enough for it to be hard rain. It was subsiding now. Typical. As soon as she came back inside, the weather had began to clear up. Absolutely typical.

"I'm trying to think of another job that I could possibly do... Research groups are proving far too difficult to get into," Claire called into the kitchen. "I was lucky enough to get into Bill and Dimitri's as an assistant, but even with the reference they gave me... Nowhere is interested."

"I still don't understand why you can't take up Dimitri on his offer to join his new research team," Hershel replied back from the kitchen, where the kettle was beginning to whistle. He had to raise his voice a little more.

Claire opened her mouth to speak, but took the time to pause.

Not long after Bill had announced his resignation (which had resulted in the end of the research team) had Dimitri confessed some un-suspected feelings for Claire. In addition, he also proposed that they could continue to work together without Bill, in the laboratory. Claire had turned him down almost immediately. Even though their was no betrayal (because she would of course never do such a thing) she still would have felt guilty. But she couldn't tell Hershel. He had never striked her as a jealous man, but then again, there'd never been the reason for him to be envious. It was better if he didn't know.

"The other members of the new team were rather... Well, they didn't seem to be particularly pleasant people," Claire responded. "I doubt they would even want me on their research team."

"Perhaps there's something at Gressenheller University that you can do," Hershel suggested as he bought in the tea.

"What? Like a Professor, like you?" Claire raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued.

"Perhaps," Hershel said, pouring the tea into the cups. "I was thinking more along the lines of the research facility there, but it's your choice, of course. If you wanted to do anymore courses or qualifications, you know I'd only be supportive."

"Of course I know that," Claire said with a smile, as she leaned forward to take her tea. "I just think I need a bit of luck, that's all."

Hershel frowned slightly as he saw the darkened material of the sofa from where Claire had been sitting against it. He spied the wet ends of her red curls from where they'd stuck out of her hood, and the rainy weather soon became apparent to him. A smile creeped up across his face, and he stood up and made his way over to the window. The sun had been out only a few hours ago...

He pulled open the window and glanced at the cloudy sky... Yes! He was correct.

"A little bit of luck you say?" Hershel grinned.

Curious to know what he was on about, Claire hurriedly stood and made her way over to the window. She gasped when she saw the stripes of crimson red, fiery orange, warm yellow, deep green, bright blue, and the radiant violet, laying across the London horizon.

"You don't get luckier than a rainbow."

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 **AN: Thanks for reading. A review would be great.**

 **Also please give me one word to base a chapter on- this story can only continue with you guys!You can give more than one word! And it can be anything!**

 **Nikki~**


	6. Lily

**AN: Review replies!**

 **H3LLOmynameiskibs:** Thanks very much for the review- and the request! It's been added to my list. :)

 **Chloemcg:** Thanks, and that's perfectly fine! If I ever get to low on words for chapters I'll just ask my mum or boyfriend or a random word. That won't sound weird. :P But fencing is on the list!

 **Maddie:** Thanks very much for the review! And thanks for the words. I've got great ideas for both the chapters! :)

 **Unknown Guest:** I will do my best to get to 100! I definitely want to.:D And thank you, that word has been added to my list! :)

 **Thanks guys! :D 4 reviews, that's great! :)**

 **This chapter is a request from anon reviewer, Jess. Oh, and this one has jumped into the future a bit. But there non-chronological which makes them great! :P**

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6- Lily

Claire paced up and down the hallway, rocking the screaming baby, with a calmly frustrated expression on her face. It was seven o'clock in the morning, and the Layton family had been woken up by a rather natural alarm clock; the newest addition to the household, who was now a month old, and was still going by the name Baby Girl Layton. Whatever name's Claire had liked before, now just didn't seem right. Lifting the infant over her shoulder and against her chest, Claire continued to try and sooth her.

"Here," Hershel finally popped his head around from the kitchen door, holding out a bottle of milk. He was fully dressed and was now preparing breakfast for the rest of their family, giving Claire the chance to soothe the youngest Layton.

"Thank you," Claire nodded, quickly taking the bottle from him and balancing the little one back on her arms, in order to feed her her breakfast. "There you go, Missis. You were just hungry, weren't you? Hey..."

"Mum!" A voice called down from the top of the stairs.

Claire quickly made her way over, balancing the baby girl on one arm and holding the bottle upright in the other.

"Yes, Alfendi?" Claire called back up the stairs.

"I can't find my cap!" The young boy replied, hanging on the highest banister at school. His red hair was falling over his eyes and was in need of a good comb. It could probably do with a good wash, too, but he despised them. Normally, Claire and Hershel would be vigilant with his hygiene, but ever since the new baby had been born, they'd been even more busy. Besides, there was worse things than a messy and muddy seven year old.

"Did you leave it where you're supposed to?" Claire called back, her eyebrow was raised, and Alfendi couldn't see it, he could tell it was by the tone in her voice. "On top of your school bag by your wardrobe?"

"It's not there. Bella must a' moved it!" Alfendi replied, referring to the family's tabby cat. Claire had insisted on getting a pet a few years ago, when they first moved into the house, insisting that it would make the place feel more like a family home.

"My darling, what on earth would Bella want with your school cap? Have a look behind your desk and under your bed. It's probably just rolled back there."

Without a reply, Alfendi hurried back into his bedroom to search for the cap. Claire heard his frantic footsteps across the hallway. She'd told him that he needed to be lighter on his feet ever since the new baby had been born, so not to scare or disturb her, but she wasn't given the chance as he darted back into his room. Besides, she was quietly feeding for the time being, and nor did she want her eldest to be late for school.

Shaking her head at the typical weekday morning, she made her way into the kitchen to find all of the plates put out ready, with toast on each plate and the butter and marmalade lay out in the middle of the table. Glad to see that there was some organisation to the morning, she smiled and gave her husband a grateful look, taking a seat on the chair closest to the window (it had always been her seat), leaning against the back of the chair. The baby nuzzled gently into her chest as Claire did so, feeling the change in her Mother's position.

"There we go, darling," Claire whispered, stroking the bright red hair. It matched Alfendi's to the shade, it was so clear already that they were brother and sister.

"Would you like me to take her so you can have your tea?" Hershel suggested as he bought the pot of tea and Alfendi's apple juice to the table.

"Yes, here we go..." Claire said, swiftly pulling out the bottle from the baby's mouth, so it was easier for her to move to the other parent's arms. As soon as Claire did so, another loud cry erupted from the baby's mouth. Ideally, Claire would kept the baby until she'd finished her breakfast, but she couldn't (she didn't even want to) deny Hershel the opportunity to have some time with his daughter before he went off to work, when Claire would get to spend the whole day with her. She knew that just the evening's and weekends weren't enough time to spend with the new addition- and apparently it wasn't fair to give him all the midnight feeds either.

"Aww, it's all right, little Lady," Hershel quickly fixed the teet of the bottle back in her mouth, stopping her cries instantly. "There. That's better, isn't it?"

Claire smiled gently as she poured her own tea, watching the two of them. He was so good with the children.

Suddenly, in came Alfendi, bouldering towards the table at full charge. He jumped onto his seat and began buttering his toast as roughly as he could. He was wearing his cap, and Claire was glad to know that it was quickly found. As Alfendi wasn't mentioning it, she assumed that his blue and yellow school cap must have been in one of the places she'd suggested looking. She smiled smugly to herself, before taking the butter knife from him to butter his toast for him. The way he wasdoing ripped up all the bread from the crust.

"Well, someone's feeling energetic this morning," Hershel remarked with a chuckle, as Claire went on to butter his toast, allowing him to continue to feed the little one. She could have her breakfast once they'd left for school and work if she had to, though she did prefer to have breakfast altogether as a family.

"Yeah, I've got swimming today!" Alfendi exclaimed. "And then science in the afternoon."

"Ah, yes, that'd be why," Hershel replied with a wink. He'd inherited his Mother's scientific interest, and his Father's enjoyment of mystery novels. They were wondering if it would be the same with Lilly, or perhaps she'd be the complete opposite.

"Has she got a name yet, Papa?" Alfendi asked, glancing over and taking a peek at his baby sister, who's face was hiding behind a pink hat. "Everyday in circle time, Mrs Barbon always asks if my baby sister's got a name yet, and I'm getting bored of saying no."

"Well..." Hershel glanced over at Claire for an answer, who gave a shrug.

"We've settled on Celeste as a middle name, dear," Claire told her son. "I just don't think she looks enough like a Celeste for that to be her first name."

"But it was your favourite name, Mum!" Alfendi exclaimed. "What about Rebecca, or Jane, or Jennifer, or Emily?"

"Hmm..." Claire shook her head. "I don't think any of them really are her..."

"So are you saying I looked like an Alfendi?" Alfendi asked, rather curiously.

"Yes, you did," Claire said with a chuckle. "I knew as soon as you were born that you were an Alfendi."

"Why? Don't you think that you look like an Alfendi, my boy?" Hershel asked teasingly.

"Well..." Alfendi pondered momentarily and took a bite of his toast. "Well, yeah, I suppose so... But only because I _am_ Alfendi... But what about the names Elizabeth, or Alice, or Amelia, or Rose?"

"Rose is... Pretty," Hershel noted, looking towards Claire for her take on the name.

She tightened her lips as if she were weighing up her decisions.

"Well, roses certainly are pretty flowers... But... No, I don't think so."

Alfendi let out a rather large sigh. He was getting terribly frustrated of his baby sister being nothing more than, well, his baby sister. They all were, but Claire just couldn't find the right name.

"What about your favourite flowers..." Hershel said, not saying the name out loud in case Alfendi got a bit too persuasive. He understood his son's anticipation on his baby sister's name.

"What are those, Mum?" Alfendi questioned, his mouth full of jammy toast.

Hershel pretended to gasp. "You're not telling me you don't know, are you, son?"

"Uhm..."

"Oh, not to worry, dear," Claire dismissed. "My favourite flowers are lilies. Hmm... Lily..."

At exactly the same time, Hershel and Alfendi, father and son, raised an eyebrow, looking over at the woman of the house. Had she finally found a name...? They watched her stand up and glance over at the month old baby girl from behind Hershel's shoulders (giving Hershel a rather strained neck). A smile slowly spread across her features.

"Hmm... Lily Celeste Layton..." Claire mused. "What do you think, Hershel?"

"I- I think it's beautiful, of course, dear."

"And you, Alfendi?" Claire asked.

"If it means she finally has a name..." The seven year old shrugged, finishing of his breakfast and gulping down his apple juice.

"So, are we all in agreement?" Claire began to beam.

"I believe so..." Hershel nodded.

"Finally!" Alfendi exclaimed, dropping his empty cup on the table in exasperation. Whoever knew his parents could be so indecisive?

* * *

 **AN: For those of you that know my OC Lilly, this Lily in here will be quite different- including appearance, backstory and personality. In fact, they only similarity is her parents and her name- and even that's different, as the other Lilly has two L's, which is shortened from Lillian. So yeah. We all better get used to that.**

 **Thanks for reading! Please review and leave me as many one words for chapters as you wish! :)**

 **Nikki~**


	7. Speakers

**AN: Request. From Jess: Speakers. Which is nice because my boyfriend got me a really cool pair of speakers for Christmas. There's lights and water in them that move to the soundwaves. I swear, they're the coolest things ever. HashtagNixiIsLame.**

* * *

A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

7- Speakers

Alfendi's little, as he'd inherited his Mother's height, legs ran down his school corridor as fast as they could.

It was the night of the school orchestra recital, and Alfendi had been looking forward to it for weeks. The nine year old had been reluctant when his parents suggest he take up a hobby, which was now almost two years ago. Alfendi had announced that if he _must_ take up a hobby then it must be kickboxing, but both parents had deemed it too violent (however, his Father had promised he could take up the sport fencing when he turned twelve, if he still wished to practise a sport when the time came). Instead, they insisted he learned an instrument. A piano was too expensive. Percussion was too loud. The violin was too high-pitched. And so, the trumpet was decided on. Both Hershel and Claire were fans of jazz, anyhow.

Alfendi, however, was not, at the time, a fan of jazz. Though to be trufthful, he wasn't exactly sure what music it was that he enjoyed. Too noisy, he claimed. However, his parents insisted on perserverance and commitment, and soon enough, Alfendi came to enjoy playing the trumpet. A year later, he joined the school orchestra. This show would have been the first time his parents would see him play in an ensemble, and he'd been ever so excited.

But disaster had struck.

"Mum! Mum! Dad Dad! Mum!" Alfendi yelled, as he burst through into the school reception.

What seemed to be hundreds of parents stopped their chattering and turned to face the distresed young boy. He was out of breath; he'd ran all the way from the other side of the school, where the hall and performance stage was, and where the disaster had occurred. Alfendi felt himself go red from the exhaustion, and embarrassment as everyone stared.

"Son?" Hershel frowned, stepping forward, at which point everyone, seeing the young boy was being tended to, resumed their conversations.

"Darling? What is it?" Claire asked, glancing worriedly at Hershel. She'd been rather anxious the past few days about the recital; she'd been expecting Alfendi to break down in stage fright ever since the concert was announced.

"Mum! Dad! One of the speakers has broke!" Alfendi exclaimed. "And it's the one closest to me, so you won't be able to hear me when we play!"

"Oh no!" Claire replied, her brow furrowing.

"No problem, son," Hershel smiled gently. "I'm sure we can fix it."

"Yeah, c'mon!" Alfendi cried, taking both his parents hands and pulling them through the corridors. With their spare hands, Hershel grabbed his top hat and kept it firmly on top of his head, and Claire took ahold of her handbag strap to stop it flying off her shoulder, and then they darted along behind their son- who was impressively faster than them. Spur of the moment, they presumed.

Upon arriving in the hall, the pair sat to work at the damaged speaker. Borrowing some of the school caretaker's tools, they opened it up and set to work. It didn't take them long at all to figure out the problem, and even less time to have it fixed.

Twenty minutes later, they were in their seats, and the orchestra was playing loud and clear through all speakers. Claire waved proudly at Alfendi, although she had a slight grimace in her expression. Alfendi looked back, sitting confidently with his trumpet. Listening carefully, the couple could even hear Alfendi exactly on his trumpet; he was the one playing a beat out of time.

Still, maybe it was the faulty speaker.

* * *

 **AN: And I have not written a word since September! Ahhhh! Well, apart from ridiculously long essays about the historical context of Macbeth, and analysis of 18/19th century Russian plays.**

 **The Christmas break has been just as hectic, but my spare time lead to me replaying Miracle Mask, thus, putting me in the mood to right.**

 **Reviews and one word requests are fabulous!**

 **Nixi~**


	8. Game

**AN: Sorry about the fact that I haven't updated anything since January. Whoops. Thanks, student life. Thanks. A. Lot.**

 **Game- requested by Jess. :)**

* * *

A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

8- Game

Over the years, technology had taken a great leap. This had it's many benefits, of course. For example, both Hershel and Claire's jobs had been much more productive and much _much_ more interesting! Claire's experiments were bigger, quicker, and more accurate. Hershel's analysis of fossil's were becoming more in-depth and new information was being discovered everyday. It was becoming quicker to date the fossils, and it was becoming even quicker for fossils to be found, what with new extraction devices being invented and then improved upon on a near to daily basis.

However, there was a downside to the sudden boom in technology.

Video games.

Alfendi, who was now thirteen years old, came home before anyone else, at half past three. Hershel arrived home joint-second with Lily, who was six years old and attended an after school club, about an hour later. Everyday, Hershel would walk through the front door, holding Lily's hand as she was a rather clingy (but not in a bad way) child, and call.

"Alfendi! We're home!"

And then, everyday, after not hearing a response (which to begin with had been quite a concern) Hershel would sigh and walk into the living room and find the teenager sitting there, his eyes glued to the screen, his hands grasping the remote and a plate of biscuit crumbs by his side. Hershel would sigh and encourage Lily to run forward and jump on her older brother.

At which point, he would scream and shout.

"Dad! Tell Lily to stop! I'm busy!"

It was becoming a concern to both parents.

And so, one night, the Layton's came up with a plan. It was Saturday night; Family night. When the family would tend to have a nice dinner (lasagne seemed to be the family favourite) and then they would all settle down on the sofa to watch a film.

"Can we watch a funny film tonight?" Alfendi asked as he put the plates in a pile by the kitchen sink. Everyone in the household had a job in order to make dinner. Claire would buy the groceries; Hershel would cook; Lilly would lay the table (and sometimes help with the shopping and the cooking, too) and then Alfendi would do the dishes.

"Actually," Claire said. "I thought that maybe tonight we'd play a game."

"But... There's only one remote..." Alfendi pointed out.

"No, no, not one of those electronic games. A real game. A board game," Hershel responded.

"A board game? But it's a bored game! Why would I want to play something that's called 'bored'?" Alfendi declared.

Both parents found it hard not to laugh at this.

"A board game? Like snakes and ladders?" Lily chirped up.

"Yes, exactly like snakes and ladders," Claire nodded.

"I don't wanna play snakes and ladders!" Alfendi exclaimed. "It's for babies!"

Lily pouted at his response, which in all fairness, probably didn't help Alfendi's claim. Even for a six year old, Lily had an incredibly babyish face with brown hair which was always in plaits. Pouting made her look like she was a toddler.

"It certainly is not," Claire replied. "I beat your Father at snakes and ladders just the other night."

"Huh?" Alfendi frowned and looked over at his Father, who gave his son a sheepish sort of look.

It was true, the pair and played snakes and ladders on the night of the Thursday just gone. Claire had won the first game, with her red counter landing on the finishing square, with the number 100 printed on it, whilst Hershel's yellow counter was stuck on the square numbered 57. Hershel has suggested they do best of 3, but after Claire won the next game and Hershel had then suggested best of 5, Claire then went on to win the third game, leaving her the winner even if Hershel were to have won the next two games. Before Hershel could have asked to make it best of seven, Claire announced she was going to retire for the night and Hershel joined her. Instead of sleeping, however, he spent the next half an hour explaining how snakes and ladders was purely based on luck and the fact that she had won three games in a row and him not come close to winning once did not imply that Claire was more skillful whatsoever at a board game designed for (according to the box) ages 5-10.

"Anyway..." Claire went on, "We're not going to be playing snakes and ladders. We're going to be playing monopoly."

"What? That game you always play at Christmas? With Uncle Clark?" Alfendi questioned.

"The very same," Hershel confirmed.

"The one you always end up yelling over?" Alfendi questioned again.

"I-" Claire glanced at Hershel, "We don't yell when playing monopoly, do we, dear?"

"Well... I don't, but you..." Hershel caught his wife's eye. "A-and you don't either, dear."

Hershel smiled at Claire, before quickly turning to Alfendi and giving the slightest nod. Last Christmas, Claire and Clark had gotten rather competitive and Claire was in desperate need to have Oxford Street, as she needed it in order to complete her collection of the borough. Clark refused to negotiate and so, Claire had gotten rather... loud. Loud and out of character- especially with the language she was using.

"Hmm..." Claire murmured, before shaking it off. "Right, I'll go and set the game up while you do the dishes, Alfendi."

Fifteen minutes later, the three were sat around the monopoly board on the living room floor, choosing their counters.

"I think I better have the tophat," Hershel said, picking up the tiny, silver tophat piece and setting it down on the "GO" space.

"What shall we have, Lily?" Claire asked the six year old, who was sitting on her lap. It had been decided that Claire would pair up with the six year old, as Lily would most likely not fully understand the game.

"Hmm..." Lily pondered, picking up all the different silver pieces. "This one! The dog!"

"Lovely," Claire remarked, placing it down next to the tophat. "And, you, Alfendi? What piece do you want?"

"I think I'll take the racecar," Alfendi said, placing his piece right at the front of the "GO" square, as if it were a race, and placing his counter there would ensure his win.

"Would you like to start, Alfendi?" Hershel offered, handing his son the die.

Alfendi rolled a 4.

"Fleet Street. I've landed on it. That means I can buy it, right?" Alfendi questioned.

"Not yet," Claire shook her head. "You have to make your way all around the board before you can buy anything."

"Oh..." Alfendi groaned, as Claire took her turn and rolled a 5.

Soon enough, it was Alfendi's turn again. And then again. And then again. And...

"Oh, no!" Claire exclaimed. "You have to go to the jail now."

Claire moved his race car piece to the jail square.

"What?" Alfendi cried. "What, why?"

"Well, my boy, you've landed on the "Go to jail" square," Hershel explained, pointing to the square.

"How do I get out?" Alfendi asked.

"You roll a six," Claire replied.

Alfendi reached for the dice.

"Uh... When it's your turn, dear," Claire explained.

And so Alfendi waited for his turn. When it came to his turn, he rolled a four. Then, a two. Then, a one. Then, another one. Then a five. Oh, so close! Then, he rolled a three on his next turn.

Alfendi let out a rather large sigh.

"I'm bored. I'm going to bed," Alfendi announced.

Claire and Hershel shared a look. They couldn't believe how little Alfendi was enjoying the game. How on earth could they distract him from his video games if they couldn't prove that one of their favourite games was enjoyable?

"All right, then, dear," Claire said. "Goodnight."

Hershel looked at the time.

"It's nine o'clock," he stood. "We better get this little Miss up to bed, too, if Alfendi's going."

Picking her up in his arms, was no trouble at all for Hershel. Lily was already half asleep. It was an hour past her bedtime.

A short while later, Hershel came back downstairs to find the game still set up.

"Are you not putting it away?" Hershel asked his wife.

"No, I thought we could continue the game ourselves," Claire smiled.

Hershel grinned back. Now would be his chance to prove that he was very skilled when it came to games.

-X-X-X-

Alfendi and Lily came down the next morning at around half past eight. Upon entering the living room, they were both very shocked indeed to find their parents laying there, on the carpet, asleep. The monopoly game was still up and it appeared as though, while the game wasn't over (for the parents had fallen asleep whilst playing), there was most definitely someone in the lead. The amount of paper monopoly money and the number of properties owned by Claire clearly outweighed Hershel's.

Lily giggled. Alfendi rolled his eyes, and then turned to the television, swiftly turning it on and picking up his remote to play a game.

* * *

 **AN: I hope you liked this chapter! It certainly was fun writing it!**

 **Remember, if you leave a reviews (which I really hope you do) please leave a one word request so this story can continue!  
**

 **Nicki~**


	9. Proposal

**This chapter is a request from chloemcg: Proposal.**

 **P.s. Sorry it's been a while. I hope this makes up for it. :)**

* * *

A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

9- Proposal

It was three months after the incident at the polydimensional research facility and life was back to normal. Claire was fully recovered and well, and was looking for a new job; Dimitri and Bill had had to close their studies into time travel and had opened up a new research facility, that Claire had decided not to be a part of for several different reasons.

And so, Claire was looking for a new job and Hershel was now working a new job as a Professor. So, things weren't quite back to normal, you could say, as rather a lot had indeed changed. However, they were happy and they were safe. That was all that mattered.

The day of the explosion, three months ago, however, had not gone as planned- and that wasn't just because of the tragic accident. In fact, that day, Hershel was going to propose to Claire.

He'd had everything all planned out. He had a ring and he had Claire's parents permission. Even then, that day, Claire had suggested they celebrate his Professorship by going out for dinner that evening. He planned to propose then. Yes, out at a nice restaurant was a much more romantic environment than their small London flat. It was the perfect day to ask such a question. That was until the explosion.

Hershel had kept the ring hidden in his sock drawer (not exactly original, no) for the past three months and had been waiting for the perfect moment to ask the question. Today, seemed to be the day. So, when Claire came home for a job interview, for she of course was looking for a new job now she had made a full recovery, Hershel was in the living room trying to organise the room. He didn't want to make a fuss, but he still wanted the proposal to be... Special. He was going to open a bottle of wine and maybe put out some candles... That was romantic, wasn't it? To be perfectly honest, he was actually rather frightened of making a fool of himself.

"Oh, hello, dear," Hershel greeted, standing up from where he'd been beating the rug. "How did the interview go?"

"Fine. The interview was fine, it's just the-" Claire paused and wrinkled her nose, and then... "ACHOO!"

Claire took off her jacket and only then did Hershel realise somthings he had failed to observe. The first, Claire, her jacket and her hair were all completely soaking wet. The second, there was the loud noise of tapping on the windows... Rain. And, every few seconds, there had been crashes of thunder. There'd been a storm going on outside, but his mind had been completely preoccupied on the proposal that he hadn't even noticed.

"Have you caught a cold?" Hershel asked.

"I think so..." Claire sniffed.

"Oh dear..." Hershel said. "I'll put on a pot of tea."

"That would be nice," Claire said. "I think I might go and get into bed..."

"That sounds like a good idea. Go make yourself nice and warm, whilst I make the tea," Hershel smiled, as he headed to the kitchen and Claire headed to the bedroom.

Five minutes later, Hershel made his way into the bedroom, holding a tray with a teapot and two cups. Upon entering, he gasped, as he saw Claire standing, in her pyjamas, by the drawers, holding... The ring box.

"Oh..." Hershel said. "You..."

"I was looking for a hot water bottle," Claire said, holding up the small black box. "Would you like me to put it back and pretend I never saw it?"

Hershel paused to think, before walking forward, placing the tray on the bed and then approaching Claire and taking the box. He smiled, rather awkwardly, but to Claire, adorably. He stumbled in a funny sort of way and lowered himself onto one knee. Claire was smiling widely.

"Claire Marie Foley," Hershel began, before fumbling and opening the box, to show off the diamond ring. "Would you do me the absolute honour of being my wife?"

Claire began to laugh.

"Yes! Yes, of course I will," Claire beamed.

"Really?" Hershel grinned, rising to his feet.

"Yes!" Claire replied. "Oh... Oh my goodness."

Hershel, too, was grinning widely. He chuckled slightly, as though in disbelief and embraced Claire. She hugged him tightly back.

"I love you," she whispered in his ear.

"I love you, too."

* * *

 **AN: I hope you enjoyed this little lovey oneshot! Remember to drop a one word request via reviews or private messaging so I can write more chapters for this fic and reach 100! :)**

 **Nikki~**


	10. Apples

**AN: Review replies!**

 **Saoirse: Thanks, sweet! :) I have added your request to my list.**

 **Lelani: Thanks- I've added your requests to my list. :)**

 **This chapter was requested by anon user Maddie.**

* * *

100 Snapshots of Their Lost Future

10- Apples

"Mu-um!" Alfendi shouted from upstairs. "Mu-um!"

He called again.

Claire had been cooking dinner in the kitchen. She turned around towards the doorway and took an awkward step backwards, keeping her hand on the pan. She tried to look through the doorway and up to the top of the stairs. She could just about see his legs through the banister, at the top of the staircase.

"What is it?" Claire called up. "Is it something your Father can help with?"

By this, Claire of course did mean "Go and ask your Father. I'm busy." Anything that she could do, Hershel could do just as well. Unless it was making a bed. He seemed to struggle to put the duvet cover on the quilt the right way round.

"Maybe, but I want you!" The five year old boy shouted.

Claire sighed and was about to turn down the sizzling pan to go and attend her wailing son, when she heard Hershel make his way through to the ground floor hallway.

"What is it, my boy?" Hershel said.

"Only mum can help!" Alfendi exclaimed in response.

"Can you not even tell me what it is?" Hershel asked. "Maybe I can help."

"My tooth is all wobbly," Alfendi told him. "I need mum to use her science to fix it!"

Hershel began to laugh. This did not impress Alfendi.

"Papa, don't laugh! This is serious," Alfendi stomped his foot. "My tooth is broken and all you can do is laugh about it!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Alfendi," Hershel apologised, his laughter subsiding out of kindness for his son. "Here, why don't you come into the kitchen. I think I know how we can fix your wobbly tooth."

Claire looked over as the two made their way into the kitchen. She, too, had heard the conversation between the two from the kitchen, as she cooked. She watched Alfendi take a seat at the kitchen table and then her husband take an apple from the fruit bowl that sat in the middle of the table, and then roll it across the table to their five year old son. He caught it, picked it up and looked at the apple curiously.

"An apple?" Alfendi said, quizically.

"An apple, indeed," Hershel nodded. "The apple will fix your teeth for certain."

"But how?" Alfendi asked, still just as confused.

"Well, dear, the crunchiness of the apple," Claire began to explain, making her way over to the dinner table after putting the pan onto simmer. "Will help make your tooth fall out."

"What?!" Alfendi exclaimed loudly. "But I don't want my tooth to fall out! I like my tooth. And I _need_ it for biting and eating!"

The two parents laughed at this, which made Alfendi pout. He couldn't understand what they found so amusing.

"In that case, I think it's about time you heard about the Tooth Fairy," Claire said, taking a seat down at the table. Hershel stood between them.

"A Tooth Fairy?" Alfendi repeated. "A fairy made of tooths?"

"Teeth," Hershel corrected. "Not quite, Alfendi. You see, when your teeth fall out, the Tooth Fairy will come and pay you a visit whilst you sleep. If you leave your tooth under your pillow, when you'll wake up, you'll find a coin under your pillow the next morning."

"From the Tooth Fairy?" Alfendi asked.

"Yep!" Claire smiled. "She swaps your tooth for a coin."

"But what would a fairy need my tooth for, Mum?" Alfendi wondered.

"Why, to build the Fairy Queen's castle, of course!" Claire answered. "They use children's teeth like bricks to build a sparkling, white castle- so I hope you've been brushing your teeth!"

"I have, because I want nice teeth, but my teeth are still gonna fall out, like you said they would if I ate too many biscuits!" Alfendi sulked.

"But those are your baby teeth," Hershel explained. "You see, as you grow older, you get your adult teeth. They're much stronger and bigger. But, for you to get your adult teeth, you need to lose your baby teeth first. And for you to do that, your teeth get all wobbly as the new ones begin to grow, and then, after a few days, your teeth will get so wobbly, that they fall out."

"And then the Tooth Fairy comes?" Alfendi asked.

"That's right," Claire nodded.

"And eating apples will make my teeth fall out?" Alfendi asked.

"It will indeed," Claire confirmed.

Without any hesitation, Alfendi then bit into the apple.

For the next three days, Alfendi ate a lot of apples. He had an apple for breakfast. An apple with his sandwiches at lunchtime at school. Then, when he came home, he would have another apple, and after dinner instead of dessert, he would have an apple. This went on for three days, before Alfendi's tooth finally fell out.

"Mum!" Alfendi cried, as he ran out of school towards Claire.

"Hello, dear," Claire chuckled, as Alfendi sprinted towards her.

"Look!" Alfendi said, holding up a small brown envelope with pride. "My tooth fell out at lunch!"

"Oh, wow," Claire beamed. "We best keep that safe and put it under your pillow tonight for the Tooth Fairy."

And that was exactly what they did.

The next morning, when Alfendi woke up, he looked under his pillow. Sure enough, there was a shiny coin.

"What are you going to buy with it?" Claire asked, over breakfast that morning.

"Apples!" Alfendi replied.

"Apples?" Hershel said.

"Yes, apples," Alfendi nodded. "Then, I can eat more apples and make more teeth fall out, and then get more money. So, I will buy more apples."

* * *

 **AN: Hope you enjoyed this guys. I'm on holiday at the moment and have caught a cold and given it to my boyfriend. Whoops...**

 **Anyway, this story was sort of inspired by one of my brothers. I was only a baby when one of my brother's lost his tooth, but my Mum tells this story frequently. It's also the reason why she never buys apples anymore- I think the amount of apples she bought for my brother when he was younger has made her sick at the sight of them!**

 **Hope everyone's having a good Summer. And remember to give me a one word request in your review!**

 **Nikki~**


	11. Mirror

**AN: This is going to be a short drabble like thing instead of a one-shot, but hopefully you will all still enjoy it. It's half eleven at night and I have to get up at 8 to take my Godson to a theme park tomorrow. Plus, I think short ones like this are more like snapshots and can still be pretty sweet without being rushed. I hope anyway. :/**

 **This chapter was requested by Maddie**

* * *

A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

11- Mirror

"Gah!" the ten month old Alfendi squealed as he sleepily reached out his arm, trying to point towards his and his Mother's reflection.

Claire turned her head towards the upstairs hallway mirror. Like her son, she too, was rather tired.

It was half past two in the morning. Claire and Hershel had been asleep, or rather they had been until their infant son had began to cry. The two parents groaned as they awoke to the all too familiar sound of their son's cries. Claire, who was still not back at work after taking time off to have Alfendi, had gotten up to attend to the little Alfendi. It was only fair, considering Hershel had to get up to the sound of another high-pitched sound, his alarm, in four hours time.

And so, Claire made her way down to the kitchen to get a bottle of milk, with her grizzling baby on her shoulder. That was then, she heard him squeal.

"Hmm," Claire murmured quizzically as she turned to see her son staring at his and her reflection.

Claire shook her head at her appearance. Messy, bed hair. Blood-shot and baggy eyes. Why, she looked like a witch in a children's picture book. She sighed and looked down at Alfendi as he made a curious expression at the sight in the mirror. It was moments of discovery like these that made her exhaust so worth it. Claire looked down at her son, who shared her red curls and Hershel's silly, goofy smile, as she slowly edged closer to the mirror on the wall, allowing Alfendi to poke his reflection in the mirror.

"Who's that?" Claire whispered as Alfendi giggled, watching the baby in the mirror copy his every move.

Alfendi studied the rest of the mirror, soon seeing his Mother in the reflection, and giggling at the excitement of seeing her- two of her!

"Yeah, it's Mama," Claire chuckled slightly, now poking her own reflection.

Claire sighed. She was rather tired and wanted to go downstairs to get a bottle of milk to feed Alfendi so he could go back to sleep, and then so she could, too. Then again, it was moments like this, when her son was so happy and bright, that she didn't want to stop. Claire smiled softly and lifted Alfendi more onto her shoulder; he was getting bigger as he grew, and with that, he became heavier, too.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall," Claire said, in a deep, gravelly voice, "Who is the tiredest of them all?"

This earned Claire another giggle from the infant.

"Mama is. That's who," Claire said. "Now, come on, Mister."

And with that, they went down to the kitchen.

The next morning, Hershel awoke to the sound of his alarm going off. He was quick to turn it off, in order to avoid disturbing his wife, and possibly even his son. Hershel assumed that, like every morning, Alfendi would be in his cot in the nursery, the room next to Hershel and Claire's bedroom. This morning, however, he appeared to be lying on top of a sleeping Claire's chest.

"Oh!" Hershel gasped, surprised to see his son in the bed.

Claire must have brought him in after she got up to tend to him during the night. Perhaps he was rather restless and wouldn't sleep on his own (Alfendi had recently gone through a phase were he refused to be in a room on his own for even a second, however both the parents thought that this phase was now over).

Hershel chuckled to himself at the sight of his two favourite people, curled up, asleep.

It was then, as Hershel stood up to get dressed, that he saw that he was wrong. For Alfendi was not asleep, but was in fact, looking across the room towards the dresser. On top of the dresser was a mirror, which Claire would use to apply a bit of make-up when she went out. Hershel could see, his son's reflection, his wide blue eyes, staring curiously at the whole family seen, reflected even, through the mirror.

The perfect image of them altogether. Exactly as they were.

* * *

 **AN: Remember guys, if you've read this chapter, it would really make me happy if you left a quick review.**

 **It would make me even happier if you just left one word. Any word. That's all your review can be: just one word which I can use as a title for another chapter in this little collection of snapshots.**

 **Thanks. :)**

 **PS. Also, if you were to vote on my poll, which you can go to via my profile page, that would be great!**

 **Nikki~**


	12. Dog

**AN: I'm off to Spain for a few days tomorrow, so I thought I better update this fic today! (If you read my other fics, Visions will be updated once I return as I'm planning to write the final chapter and the first chapter of the sequel on the plane. I want to post the sequel at the same time of the final chapter of Visions, so it flows and you guys don't have to wait. My new one-shot series, The World According to Flora Reinhold will have the Pandora/Diabolical box one-shot written and updated soon after Visions is complete. Lillyesque will be updated once I've posted this chapter!)**

 **Thanks, folks!**

 **This chapter was requested by viofan238!**

* * *

A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

12- Dog

"I'm back!" twelve year old Alfendi shouted as he entered the Layton household at half past six that evening. He shut the door rather loudly as he announced his presence. In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that he slammed it.

"Don't slam the door!" Claire called from the dining room, where the rest of the family was eating dinner.

"Yeah, Alfendi!" five year old Lily called, mockingly. "Don't slam the door!"

Lily was a very interesting five year old. Many people would come across the small five year old, who really was very small for her age, and see her sweet, sparkly green eyes and her curly auburn locks and would smile at her. Then, once Lily had noticed the attention, she would stick her tongue out or make some other unpleasant face and the person- usually and elder lady- would gasp and walk away, tutting as they left. Lily would fall back laughing in hysterics.

"Lily, don't be silly," Claire scolded, sharply. "Now, eat your potatoes."

"And your carrots," Hershel added, spying her plate.

"But I don't like carrots," Lilly remarked. "They are too orange!"

"But they'll make your hair go curly!" Hershel joked.

Alfendi entered the kitchen and jumped up onto his seat at the kitchen table. He frowned at his Father's comment.

"I think that's bread crusts, Dad," Alfendi told him. "Yeah. Bread crusts make your hair curly. Right, Mum?"

"Yes and no," Claire said, rather distractedly as she cut up Lily's potatoes in an attempt to encourage her to eat them. "People say so, but there's no scientific evidence. On the other hand, if you eat your carrots, Lily, you really will be able to see in the dark."

"And then you'll be a superhero with super powers!" Hershel grinned, not giving up on trying to convince her to eat the carrots.

"Would you like some dinner, or did you eat at Robert's?" Claire asked, turning to Alfendi, who had spent the day at his friend's house in the next street over.

"I've had dinner. I'm fine, Mum," Alfendi replied.

He remained seated at the table, knowing it was the polite thing to do. His parents, particularly his Mother, had been rather stressed recently. What with it being the Summer and all and Claire being at work all day whilst Hershel didn't have work as the University had summer holidays, too. Claire was rather jealous with this and it meant that by the time she came home at five, not only was she stressed with her job (she was currently working as an ethical and moral consultant for the UK department of scientific research) but she was also stressed because she could not be home spending time with her family.

"Mum," Alfendi began.

"Yes, darling?" Claire replied, who was now finally getting the chance to eat her own dinner, after cutting up Lily's potatoes into such small pieces that they may as well be mashed.

"Robert's got a new dog," Alfendi said. "They got him from a rescue centre. He's really cool. He chases his tail and everything!"

"That's nice," Claire commented with a smile, however it was clear that she was not particularly interested; she was tired, not rude and Alfendi knew this, so he went on.

"Do you think we could ever get a dog, Mum?" Alfendi asked.

"No," Claire was quick to answer.

"But-" Alfendi began.

"Son, your Mother is right," Hershel quickly interrupted. He too understood his wife's tiredness and stress and didn't want to exacerbate things. "We don't quite have the money at the moment. Besides, we wouldn't have the time to walk a dog. A dog would be quite unhappy here."

Alfendi sighed. Then, Lily, who had strangely been rather quiet for several minutes, piped up.

"What about a pussy cat?"

* * *

 **AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **I'm not sure how long it will be before I can update again, as of course, I am off on holiday tomorrow morning (okay, I leave at half ten this evening as our plane is in the morning). It all depends on how we spend our time, whether I end up sharing a room with my 21 month old niece or not, and how good the wi-fi connection is! :)**

 **Fingers crossed!**

 **Nikki~**

 **PS. As always, it would be a massive help if you could leave a review and give me a word to use for the title of a chapter!**


	13. Blanket

**AN: This chapter was requested by Louise.**

* * *

A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

13- Blanket

Hershel walked into the front door of their new house.

To call the house new would be rather untrue. The house was in fact rather old and had been built in 1837, according to the Estate Agent. It wasn't a particularly big house, however neither was it particularly small. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms- one downstairs and one upstairs- and that was definitely an upgrade from their previous one bedroom and one bathroom flat.

The couple had decided to move. This move was long overdue. They'd moved into their flat after graduating University and leaving the campus' accommodation. Seven years later, they were still there. On top of that, they were now married and expecting their first child. They deserved a move to a bigger space.

And so the old house was new to them.

"I'm home!" Hershel called as he shut the front door behind him, half expecting his expectant wife to be found asleep in one of the rooms of the house (she'd been found sleeping at the kitchen table only two days ago).

"Hello!" Claire called back.

Hershel followed the sound of her voice to the living room. He glanced around the room in search for her, quickly finding Claire to be sitting on the sofa, feet up on the foot stall, holding two knitting needles and balancing a ball of yellow wool on her swollen stomach. Hershel was rather surprised; Claire had never shown any interest in knitting.

"Are you... Knitting?" Hershel asked, making his way over to Claire and crouching next to the arm of the sofa which Claire leant on.

"I am!" Claire beamed. "I'll admit, it's not going well, but... I found this instruction booklet in the charity shop."

"And now you're knitting?"

"Yes. You see, I'd gone in to see if they had any nice baby clothes and I found this instead. Knitting's a very motherly sort of thing to do, isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose so... I've always more associated the art of knitting with grandmother's, but anyone can do it really," Hershel replied with a small frown.

"Exactly!" Claire smiled, however her hands seemed clumsy as she tried to click the needles together in an attempt to join the wool together. Several lines had already been completed, however they weren't exactly neat and tight. "So, I went to the market and bought some wool. Yellow's a good colour, right?"

"Yes, it's lovely, darling..." Hershel said with a small nod, observing the loose stitching in the wool. "But, can I ask what it is exactly that you're knitting?"

"Why, a blanket, of course!" Claire replied as if it was obvious. Considering Hershel's first guess would have been a scarf, it wasn't exactly obviously a blanket. "For the baby."

"Ah, yes, of course," Hershel nodded. "However, I do have a question."

"What's that, dear?" Claire asked, as she tried to pull the wool back around and hook it onto the needle.

"Why exactly are you knitting?" Hershel queried.

"Well... Because it's something mums do," Claire replied with a small shrug. "You know, I'm not exactly your typical Mother, so I thought perhaps I should do something to try and be... You know, more motherly."

Hershel frowned further. He watched Claire as she tried to click at the needles and get them to work together, but her hands just couldn't master the rhythm and pattern to it. The wool was becoming tangled between her fingers and she was struggling to straighten it out without dropping the stitch. Considering the uneven stitches of the lines that had been completed already, Hershel assumed that this had been a common struggle for Claire that afternoon.

"I... Well... Perhaps..." Hershel paused. "What do you mean you're not a typical Mother?"

"Well, to begin with... Oh, for goodness...!" Claire stopped in her response to sigh loudly and drop the needles to her side, as she dropped a stitch for the fifth consecutive time.

"It's all right," Hershel reassured in a calm tone. "Forget that. Answer my question."

Claire readjusted her seat on the sofa, maneuvering her currently large body so that she could comfortably turn and face the end of the sofa, in order or her to be facing her husband.

"What I was trying to say is that I'm not exactly a Mother. I don't particularly have a lot of experience with children. I can't cook anything more complicated than pasta. I'm not-"

Hershel quickly cut off Claire as he could tell by her frantic tone, which seemed to only grow as she went on, that she was getting upset.

"Claire, Claire, Claire..." Hershel said. "Claire, you're not exactly making any sense."

"Yes I am," Claire retorted. Hershel resisted the urge to roll his eyes and secretly hoped that the child would not inherit his or her's Mother's stubborn attitude.

"No, you're not," Hershel shook his head. "You're saying that you're not a Mother. I disagree."

"How so?" Claire raised her brow.

"Well, born yet or not, you have a child. I think that's the definition of a Mother," Hershel replied.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Hershel, that wasn't what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean?" Hershel asked with a small chuckle. "Claire, you can not judge yourself before the child is born. Besides, what difference is there between you and the typical Mother? In fact, what even is a typical Mother?"

Claire took a long pause as she pondered for an answer.

"See. There isn't one. Look, I know you're nervous. I am, too," Hershel proved.

Claire gave him a small smile. "Are you really?"

"Of course I am. I'm very nervous, but there's no need for either of us to be worried," Hershel said with a smile, before planting a kiss on Claire's forehead. "You'll be a brilliant Mother. You'll see."

* * *

 **AN: Apologies for the long wait, folks. I went on holiday and now I'm going away again tomorrow for even longer and I'm not sure if I'll be able to update whilst I'm away. It all depends on how many people I end up sharing a room with and if I'll be sharing a room with little people, because apparently I type really loudly and I don't want to be disturbing anyone's sleep. Communal areas and living room areas are hard to write in, because it will just be my family going "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU WRITING ANOTHER PLAY? WILL YOU GET IT PUBLISHED? I HEARD ABOUT THIS PROGRAMME IN OHIO WHERE..." and you get the idea.**

 **I hope to be able to update again soon. In the meantime, please give me some words for future chapters!**

 **Nikki~**


	14. Pavlova

**AN: This chapter was requested by GeekyGenius. I mixed two of their requests together. I'm smart like that.**

* * *

A Hundred Snapshits of Their Lost Future

14- Pavlova

It had been a week since Flora had moved into the Layton household and things had changed. At first, Alfendi had been surprised and confused. The nine year old had a friend at school who had an adopted sister, but before she'd moved in, the parents had been hoping to adopt for nearly two years- and the sister was a baby. In this case, however, hid adopted sister had appeared out of nowhere, with no warning, and was thirteen; four years older than him!

Claire, too, had been surprised, although Hershel had of course phoned ahead of leaving St Mystere to discuss the matter of what to do with Flora. He had suggested taking her to a care home or a boarding school, but Claire had refused. What was the point in sending her to a place for homeless children, when she could have a perfectly good home with the Laytons, Claire had said. She knew that Hershel of course wanted Flora to stay with them and was only suggesting otherwise so as not to shock the family, but she strongly believed in what she said to Hershel. In fact, she would go so far as to say that she wanted Flora to stay. It would be nice to have another family member, and Claire didn't exactly want to have another child.

Nevertheless, it was indeed rather strange to adapt to such a sudden change in the family dynamics, but the Layton family managed. They were as polite as they could be and they were welcoming and they were thoughtful. Even Lily, who was only two and could only string two or three words together at a time, would waddle up to Flora and hand her toy bricks and teddies in an attempt to share and get her new sister to play with her.

They did well to get along and to welcome Flora to the family and Flora settled into the family well, however, settling into a big city after living in a tiny village all her life... That was a little harder for her. She wouldn't cross the road without Hershel or Claire doing so with her; she struggled to understand bus timetables and she became very anxious when speaking to service workers, finding their blunt responses and expressions off-putting and rude, in comparison to the friendly, tight-knit villagers and their big smiles.

And so, whilst Alfendi was at school one day, both Hershel and Claire took the day off (by claiming sick which wasn't something either one of them had ever done before) and took Flora and Lily, as they weren't at work they decided they may as well save on nursery fares, out for the day to explore and get to know the city. Besides, Flora would be joining a school soon- she'd had to go on a waiting list and a place would be opening up soon at the closest secondary school. The sooner she got used to taking the bus around the city and the sooner she got to feel safe in the city, the better.

"Where are we going?" Flora asked, sitting next to Hershel on the bus. It was best that they used the bus instead of the car if they were going to get her used to London.

"I'll show you some of the important places," Claire, who was standing up in the stroller area with Lily in the pram, replied. "The city centre, the scientific research university, which is where I work, Gressenheller University, where Hershel works, and your own school, too. This bus route passes all of them. They're all places you'll probably need or want to visit now that you live in London."

"And this bus goes past all of them?" Flora questioned.

"Yes. This is the main bus route that runs through Gressenheller. Do you remember the number on the front of the bus?" Claire asked, bending down to get a small soft toy to hand to Lily. The two year old was squirming and fidgeting in her push chair, wanting to be running around freely.

"Umm... The 14, I think," Flora answered. "And it said something as well. Trinder Park, I think..."

"That's exactly right," Claire smiled, her glances flickering between Flora and Lily. Lily, so as to make sure she didn't drop the toy, which was a pink rabbit. And Flora, so as to make sure the adolescent knew she was listening. "That's where this bus terminates. Then, it goes back around to where it came from."

"Okay..." Flora nodded, taking the information in.

"We're approaching the library right now," Hershel put in.

"We had a library in St Mystere," Flora replied.

"We'll have to get you a library card before you start school," Hershel suggested. "Then, you can do research for your classes. And take out any novels you may wish to read."

"Good idea," Claire smiled, now handing Lily a few pieces of cereal in an attempt to get her to stop chewing one of the large ears of the rabbit teddy.

Flora watched and giggled slightly at the sight of the two year old, who then proceeded to chew the ear of the toy rabbit and the pieces of cereal simultaneously. Flora reached her hand out.

"Can I see the bunny?" Flora asked. Lily then placed the teddy in Flora's ourstretched hand. "Thank you. Now maybe it will taste a bit better, huh?"

Hershel chuckled. "Oh, I don't know about that. She did appear to rather like the taste of that toy."

"Bunny!" Lily exclaimed, stretching her hand out. She'd finished the cereal. Flora smiled and handed the toy back and Lily immediately put the soft toy back into her mouth and continued to chew on the ear. The three chuckled.

"See?" Hershel said to Flora with a grin.

The bus then stopped and Flora looked out of the window. She could see a large building, with a metal wired sign in front of it.

 _Gressenheller Public Library_

"And this of course, is the library," Claire told Flora.

"It's a lot bigger than the one in St Mystere," Flora observed, gawping out of the window at the sheer size of the building. "It must have a lot of books in it..."

"It does indeed," Hershel smiled. "More books than I could ever hope to read in a lifetime. They have every genre, fiction and non-fiction, and they have newspapers, too."

"Newspapers? In a library?" Flora frowned.

"Yep!" Claire grinned. "It's great for research projects on recent events. They'll have papers up to fifty years ago, if not more."

"We'll sort you out a library card soon," Hershel reminded. "Until then, you are of course welcome to read any of the books we have at the house."

"You said," Flora nodded. "Thank you."

The bus suddenly jolted as it started moving and the journey continued. And if Flora thought the library was big, was she in for surprise when a few stops later, they stopped outside Gressenheller work. It was larger by at least thrice and was filled with young adults, walking in all sorts of directions, each carrying a large bag or balancing a stack of folders or textbooks.

"This is where you work?" Flora asked and turned to Hershel.

"It is indeed," he nodded, tipping his top hat.

"And this is where you work?" Flora asked Claire as they stopped outside another building, taller, but not as large as the Univeristy, about fifteen minutes later.

"It is," Claire nodded. "I work for the Department of Ethics there. Before any experiments take place in the laboratories here, a team of people including myself make sure that it's safe and no one is at risk of being hurt- and if they are, we make sure that we have their consent and that they're fully aware of the risks."

"But why would someone want to do an experiment that could hurt somebody else?" Flora asked.

"It depends on what the benefits are and whether or not they outweigh the risks," Claire explained. "For example, testing a new vaccination. It could potentially save thousands of lives, but on the other hand the people testing it could become ill, potentially fatally."

Flora raised an eyebrow. "What's a vaccination?"

"I guess we better get her up to date on those, too," Claire and sighed and muttered under her breath. They'd just gotten Lily up to date on her vaccinations and she screamed. A lot. Flora was of course a lot older and so most would expect her to be content in receiving injections, but when Claire considered Flora's lack of exposure to the outside world, she wasn't so sure.

"Ice cream!" Lily suddenly cried and reached over for the red button on the side of the chair, labelled "STOP" in big, white letters.

Claire jumped in surprise and sighed loudly, quickly moving the stroller back a few inches to prevent Lily from requesting that the bus stop a second time.

"Lily..." Claire shook her head, looking over the head of the pram at the toddler. "Why did you do that?"

"I think she saw an ice cream parlour..." Flora replied, as the engine of the bus subsided and it stopped at the next bus stop

"We just passed one and she saw... It's quite impressive actually that she knew how to get the bus to stop," Hershel remarked.

"Wow... Lily, I don't know if I'm angry or impressed," Claire said with a bemused smile on her face. "Come on, then. We may as well get off and go and have some ice cream."

"Why not?" Hershel grinned and gestured for Flora to get up.

Flora had eaten ice cream before. In fact, she'd eaten rather a lot in her lifetime, however the dishes had always been rather simple. Chocolate ice cream and a wafer. Vanilla ice cream and chocolate sprinkles. Three scoops, one strawberry, one vanilla and one chocolate. Looking in the menu of _this_ ice cream parlour on the otherhand was a rather different matter. Knickerbocker glories; rocky road; sweet flavoured ice cream; sorbet and gelato in every flavour imaginable.

"Have you decided yet Flora?" Claire asked, holding a two scoop tub of mint chocolate chip, whilst Hershel tried to help Lily steadily hold a very big whipped ice cream.

"Hmm..." Flora mumbled in thought. "What's the pavlova?"

"It's meringue and cream with fruit inside," Claire replied. "They put a scoop of vanilla ice cream with it, too, here. Do you want to get that?"

"Yes, please," Flora nodded.

The server, who had been listening in, nodded and served up the dish and handing it over to Flora within a minute, whilst exchanging it with some coins from Claire.

Flora was halfway through her pavlova when she suddenly heard a whine from Lily. Turning round, she saw the toddler's ice cream was all gone. For a two year old, she made her way through that fast.

"Here you go," Flora offered, taking a scoop of the fruit and ice cream and holding it out to the infant.

Excitedly, Lily jumped forward in such a frenzied attempt to eat the scoop of dessert being offered out to her, that she... Missed. She giggled feeling the coldness tingle at her feature. The whole family laughed at the sight of the toddler with a scoop of pavlova sitting on her button nose.

* * *

 **AN: So, today I moved house and I somehow managed to fit in the time to write this, too. Okay... We've emptied no boxes apart from the kitchenware so we could could cutlery for our take out. Tonight, I shall sleep on a mattress in my new apartment.  
**

 **I've set up a new system where I update on the same day each week to help add some structure to my life. Cause there is currently zilch. This fic's update day is, you guessed it, Thursday! If you want to know what days I'm updating my other fics, check out my profile! :)**

 **Oh, and please leave a one word request. What's the item on your left? Yeah, that. Tell me. Thanks.**

 **Nikki~**


	15. Vase

**AN: This chapter was requested by GeekyGenius.**

A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

15- Vase

"Lily, no!" Alfendi cried as his one year old sister stumbled over towards the mantel piece. Quickly, he grabbed his baby sister and pulled her back.

The two children were visiting their Grandmother's house. Her new house, to be exact. Their Grandfather had died several months ago and in order to be closer to family and away from the memories of her late husband, their Grandmother had moved into a bungalow in North London and was now a twenty minute drive from the Layton household instead of a two hour one.

Their Grandmother was currently giving their parents a tour of the the bungalow. Considering the fact that it was a small bungalow and Alfendi had counted no more than four rooms (a living room, which they were in; a kitchen; a bathroom and a bedroom) and a garden, he was very surprised that the tour was taking more than ten minutes. In fact, three minutes would be pushing it. Then again, Nana Marie was known for her self-obsessed rambling and so given the opportunity, it wasn't surprising she was taking so long, as she probably had three soliloquies prepared for each room.

Alfendi had been left with his baby sister in the living room. His baby sister who was learning to walk.

"Why dooesn't Alfendi stay here with his sister whilst I show you two around," Nana Marie had suggested to their parents. "I've worked so hard cleaning everything for your visit. It would be a shame if the baby made a mess. Alfendi can show her all my ornaments, as long as she doesn't touch them."

And so, that was that Alfendi did. He held Lily by her hands and lead her over to the mantelpiece. She could walk very well as long as she had someone to help her balance.

Their Grandmother had a wide range of pretty and intriguing ornaments that were all lined up in a row by the fire place and above on the mantelpiece. Unlike most Grandmother's, however, there were no photos. There were instead small marble statues of funnily shaped humans, fabrigey eggs, miniature glass animals, hand-crafted boxes decorated with swirly patterns and a long, thin pale pink glass vase, which was Nana Marie's pride and joy. She'd picked it up years ago at a vintage second-hand shop for a very cheap price. She'd simply purchased it for its aesthetic looks, but whilst a friend was around for tea, the friend gasped when she saw the vase and claimed that it was a very valuable collector's item and worth a lot- however, Nana Marie would never tell her family just how much it was worth.

Instead of selling it on, or putting it up for auction, the Grandmother kept it, displayed it and proudly told everyone who visited that she owned an expensive collector's item. Alfendi had perhaps heard the story of the pink vase twenty times, and his parents had heard it more.

Lily let out a sudden screech as her brother grabbed and pulled her away from the shiny vase, her hands reaching out as if she was trying to grab it.

"Is everything all right?" Their Father called from the other side of the bungalow.

"Yes, Papa!" Alfendi called back. "Lily just fell. She's fine!"

Alfendi sighed, took his sister's hands and hoisted her back up onto her feet. The one year old stumbled on her two feet and she wiggled from side to side, trying to find her centre of balance.

"Come on, Lily," Alfendi said and then slowly let go off her hands, once Lily had began to balance easily on her two feet. He'd seen his parents do this as they tried to teach her to walk. He supposed that perhaps now it would be easier if they focused on something else other than the many ornaments belonging to his Grandmother. She was becoming too fascinated by the patterns and colours and had just very nearly broken at least one. Alfendi didn't want to have to deal with the consequences of that. "There you go..."

Lily giggled as she balanced on her two feet, standing completely still and then. Alfendi, who was on his knees, so he could easily have reached her hands, shuffled backwards a few steps. He reached out his hands slightly, allowing Lily to grab onto him if she needed and to encourage her to walk over to him.

"Come on, Lily..."Alfendi called in encouragement.

Lily took one small, jittery step forward. Alfendi shuffled one step backwards. Lilly took another step. Alfendi shuffled back. This went on and on and on, until Alfendi felt the wall on the back of his feet. She'd nearly made it all the way across the living room. Slowly, Alfendi stood up and began to take small steps around the room, never moving more than two foot away from his baby sister. Yet, it appeared that he didn't need to as Lilly was walking perfectly fine on her own.

"Mum! Papa!" Alfendi shouted loudly.

In less than a second (the bungalow was very small) the two parents appeared in the doorway, expecting to find at least one child injured.

"She's walking!" Alfendi beamed. "And I taught her."

"Well, would you look at that!" Hershel grinned, watching his youngest stumble, but keep upright across the living room floor.

"Oh, Lily!" Claire smiled widely, stepping into the room and sitting herself down on the other side of the room and stretching her arms out. "Come over here, Lily. Come on, darling."

Lily then turned, but she didn't make her way towards her Mother. Instead, she made her way towards the mantelpiece. More specifically, the vase.

Just then, the children's Grandmother made her way into the living room. She clearly hadn't hurried herself like the parents had when Alfendi had cried out. She was just in time to see the one year old reaching for the vase...

"No, careful-!" The Grandmother cried out.

Alfendi and both parents tried to reach the toddler and pull her back, but none of them made it in time. Lily barely even touched the vase, but it's tall and skinny frame lost all its balance and tumbled down, smashing on the floor. Quickly, Claire scooped up the one year old away from the splintered and broken glass and inspected her for cuts.

"My vase!" The elder woman cried out loud in distress, staring at the hundred or so pieces of the pale, pink glass that were scattered across the living room floor.

"I'm sorry, Nana Marie..." Alfendi said, hiding his face. His Grandmother was rather strict and occasionally very temperamental, too.

"Don't worry, Alfendi," Claire quickly said, knowing all too well what her Mother's behaviour could be like. "The important thing is that no one's hurt."

"But that was a collector's item..." The Grandmother whimpered.

"Actually..." Hershel spoke up. "Claire and myself weren't going to say anything, but whilst shopping for a house-warming gift in the home stores... There was- well- a range of vases completely identical to your vase."

"Don't be ridiculous, Hershel," Marie shook her head. "My friend is an auctioneer and she said that it was worth seven hundred pounds!"

"Or, as the price tag on the vases at the store said, fifteen pounds," Claire said with a small shrug. "Mum, maybe that one was a real collector's item, but you could get an identical one and no one would ever known the difference..."

"Oh... Never mind. It's useless, anyway," Marie said in dismissal, sitting down on the settee."I never liked that vase anyway. I only kept it because I thought it was worth something."

Claire rolled her eyes.

"Right, then..." Claire said, handing Lily to her Mother, who accepted the wriggling one year old onto her lap. "I'm going to clean this up."

"Good idea," Hershel nodded. "And I'll put the kettle on."

* * *

 **AN: I have this idea in my head that Claire's Mum is a very uptight and self-centered woman. I don't know why, but I seem to work with it.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)**

 **A review would be great! And please leave a one word request in your review! :)**

 **Nikki~**


	16. Christmas

**AN: Unlike normal updates, this chapter will not be a request, yet rather a holiday themed one-shot... Which I hope you will enjoy all the same! :)**

* * *

A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

16- Christmas

It was the night before Christmas and all through the house, were the sound of hurried footsteps and shouts to one another, all through the house.

"Did you clean the bed sheets for Lily's room?" Claire called out from the utility closet, to Hershel who was vacuuming the living room.

At the muffled sound of his wife's voice through the heavy roar of the vacuum, Hershel switched the device off.

"What was that, dear?"

"Never mind, found them!" Claire called back.

Shortly after, there was once again the sound of the middle aged redhead's (whose hair was now beginning to turn a sparkling silver) footsteps running up the stairs. Hershel caught a glimpse of Claire skipping up the stairs and with a bed sheets and quilt covers piled up high in her arms. He was briefly reminded of the memories he had of her, holding their children, as infants in blankets in her arms. It seemed strange. Now, they were all grown up... And on their way home for Christmas.

When Claire returned to the ground floor, just as Hershel finished the cleaning, she sighed and sat down on the sofa.

"Why on earth do we put in this amount of effort making sure everything's ready and tidy, when I doubt either Alf or Lily would do the same," Claire said, with a gentle, yet clearly exhausted laugh.

"Well, one, because we're parents and we set the example," Hershel began as he sat down beside her. "And two, because... Well, it's Christmas!"

Claire chuckled and glanced up at the clock upon the mantelpiece, which had been recently dusted.

"Just in time, too," she said, gesturing to the time, which read half past three. "They'll be here any minute."

"In bad moods, too, I assume, after being stuck in a car for two hours with each other," Hershel said grimly. Having raised the two of them under the same roof for multiple years, Hershel knew well and truly that sibling rivalry was not something the siblings had grown out of- despite the fact that Alfendi was now twenty seven and Lily twenty.

 _Ding dong_

"Spoke too soon, dear," Claire smiled, before slowly, in her increasing age, getting up and heading towards the door to answer it. Hershel, of course, joined her in order to greet his two children.

"Hello, darling!" Claire grinned, hugging her youngest daughter after opening the door.

"Hi, Mum!" Lily smiled, going straight into hug her Mother, having not seen either of her parents since she returned to University in late September. She, of course, then turned to her Father. "Hi, Papa!"

"Hello, dear," Hershel chuckled as he took his turn to embrace his daughter.

"And merry Christmas, too!" Lily beamed, her arms dropping back to her side.

"Yes, merry Christmas indeed, but where's your brother?" Claire asked with a slight frown, looking up and over across the driveway, which only held their own shiny red car. Not their son's.

"Oh, he's just parking a bit further down the street. Something to do with not liking reversing out of parking spaces... I suggested that I could take over the steering wheel to park, but of course he outright refused," Lily said, with a roll of her eyes, before bending down to pick up two knee high Christmas bags, which neither parent had noticed to be there, before stepping inside the house in which she grew up. "Oh, by the way... You haven't by chance received a letter from Alfendi have you?"

"What, a Christmas card?" Hershel asked, taking Lily's coat, acting as a gentleman even to his daughter.

"Umm... Not quite," Lily said, giving an awkward facial expression. "I suppose you'll find out momentarily, but I feel I should warn you, because you see..."

"Mother, Father, hello!" Alfendi's voice flew into the Layton household.

"Hello, dear- oh!" Claire exclaimed, as she turned around to face her son and was surprised to see a second face, next to her son's.

"Mother, Father, this is the Lady I mentioned in my letter: Lucy Baker," Alfendi smiled, gesturing to the young woman stood beside him.

She was a tall and slender woman, who looked to be perhaps somewhere in between the age of Alfendi and Lily. Her face was round, yet not out of place with the rest of her slender figure and it was framed by a short brown bob, topped with a pink cap.

"Yes, your sister mentioned a letter, but..." Hershel began, but was quickly interrupted by Lily.

"They haven't got it, Alf. Just like I told you they wouldn't. You sent it on the twentieth of December. It will have hit the Christmas rush. I told you, you need to send your post of by December tenth- if not before. Like I did. _I_ sent mine off on the first," Lily said with a smirk.

"Thank you, Lily," Alfendi rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Mother, Father... This is Lucy. She works with me and we are... How do you say it?..."

"Dating," Lily put in, now biting her lip to try and stop herself from laughing at her brother's awkwardness.

"Yes. What Lily said," Alfendi said. "Lucy works with me at Scotland. She was on the case with me that I've been working on in Nottingham recently. Due to her own personal family matters, I suggested that Lucy spend Christmas with us. I did write ahead to warn you, but as Lily said the post can be rather hectic during the holidays, but it won't be a problem, will it?"

"No, of course not, dear," Claire smiled, although she did indeed look flustered and surprised. Nevertheless, she couldn't quite hide the fact that she was happy to finally see her son bring home a girl. "You are more than welcome, Lucy. It's nice to meet you, dear."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Mrs Layton," Lucy grinned. She had a thick cockney accent, which wasn't a common dialect in their borough, however it did indicate that she'd been raised elsewhere in London.

"Oh, please, call me Claire. And this is Alfendi's Father, Hershel," Claire said, gesturing to her husband.

"It's a pleasure, Lucy," Hershel said holding out his hand.

"It is indeed! For me to meet you, I mean," Lucy said, shaking his hand. "Alfendi tells me you're a Professor. I'll refer to you as Professor. It's a hard earned title and I rather think it should be used as much as possible. It's only fair."

"If you insist..." Hershel said with a faint smile.

A moment of silence ensued. All five adults smiled, rather awkwardly, glancing between each other. Lily soon came to a rescue.

"Will Flora be coming this evening?" She asked her parents. It was an earnest question and she truthfully did want to know the answer. Lily had loved having an elder sister and as Flora had grown up, married and had two children, Lily had grown excited to have small children along. Especially during Christmas. She found it was much more enjoyable and festive to have her niece and nephew with them at Christmas.

"Flora, Luke, Violet and Augustus are joining us tomorrow at one pm for Christmas dinner," Claire replied.

"And so are Brenda and Clark," Hershel added.

"Splendid!" Lily beamed. "Anyhow, Alf, why don't you give Lucy a tour of our family home. Meanwhile, I'll tell Mother and Father about university. I imagine you and Lucy are both quite bored of hearing about journalism and how to come up with effective newspaper and tabloid titles."

"Quite," Alfendi replied, a hint of spite in his voice. "This way, Lucy. I'l show you around."

"Yes, dear. We'd both love to hear about what you've been up to these part few months," Hershel said, as Alfendi and Lucy headed off around the corner and into the living room.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else..." Lily said, her hand movements making her appear frantic. "Lucy; she's nice. I know she seems a bit, like, madly over the top and such, but trust me I've met much worse than her. She's actually really lovely once you get to know her."

"Oh, she seems lovely. I just wish your brother could have told us she would be coming. Let alone, whether or not he had been seeing someone," Claire shrugged. "Ah, well. I suppose that's Alfendi all over."

"Oh, most definitely. I think he wanted to surprise you," Lilly replied. "Think of it this way, he knew you'd react well and so thought it would be a nice surprise."

"I suppose that's a nice way to look at it," Hershel chuckled.

"But it still would have been preferable for him to tell us. I don't understand why he never calls..." Claire said with a sigh.

"Oh, the place they've been staying doesn't seem to have a good connection. You know, the case in Nottingham? Yes, well, the accommodation the Yard sorted out for them has no telephone connection whatsoever. I don't really think they've had enough time to try and get anyone to sort it out either..." Lily explained. "Anyway, that wasn't what I wanted to say."

"Then, what is, love? I'm sure you have a lot to tell us. We haven't seen you since September," Claire said with a smile and a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"Well... You do like Lucy don't you? You're not just saying that?" Lily said. "Because well, you see, I mean... You're going to have to act surprised tomorrow, but I think it's more enjoyable if you're not shocked and... Do you know what I mean, because... Look, okay..." Lily lowered her voice. "You can't tell Alfendi I told you, but tomorrow... He's going to propose. I thought you might need some time to prepare for that. I didn't quite know how you'd feel. I only found out today myself. I saw the ring box in Alfendi's luggage before we left and I asked."

Realising she was rambling, she took a pause and a deep breath, taking the opportunity to study her parents shocked, wide-eyed expressions.

"Well... My children really have grown up, haven't they?" Claire said, before shaking her head with a small chuckle. "Don't worry, Lily. If anything, I'm glad Alfendi's finally found someone."

"How about we put on the kettle and we can all get to know Lucy over a cup of tea?" Hershel suggested.

Claire smiled.

"A splendid idea. As always, dear."

* * *

 **AN: Happy holidays, lovelies!**

 **A review and a one word request for this fic would be fabulous!**

 **Much love and festive wishes,**

 **Nikki~**


	17. Jealous

**AN: Requested by Chloemcg.**

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A Hundred Snapshots of Their Lost Future

17- Jealous

Alfendi had always enjoyed being an only child. He had enjoyed it very much so. Then again, he had never known anything else, so perhaps what he hated was change? After all, he had never known anything but being an only child. That being said, he had never known anything but... until now.

Right from when Alfendi's parents had told him he'd be getting a new brother or sister, he'd been put off. Immediately, images of all he knew about babies flooded into his head. Screaming, smelly, attention-hogging, toothless, bald, miniature humans, who were too stupid to even know how to speak- or walk! He couldn't quite picture there being another addition to the household, especially one so roudy. There was enough mess what with his Father's lack of organisational skills and the family cat, Bella. What with such an untelligible-being being welcomed into the house, surely the house would become an unbearable mess in which to live in.

After telling this to his Grandma Lucille in one of their Sunday teatimes, she had chuckled in response and told him not to worry; he, too, had been a screaming, smelly, attention-hogging, toothless and bald miniature human himself seven years ago. Alfendi disagreed and replied with the statement that neverthless, he still did not want any siblings.

But, it seemed Alfendi had no choice in the matter.

Several months later, the baby had arrived, and at the most unconvenient time, too. In the middle of the night- how rude! Just when everyone was sleeping and that included Alfendi, however he himself had luckily not been disturbed. He doubted he could say the same for his parents though.

After awaking, he was surprised to see that his parents themselves weren't already awake. He hurried into their bedroom, slightly concerned and so didn't wait to knock. He burst in to see his Father talking with a woman he hadn't seen before, who was wearing a white coat, and his Mother, laying on the bed and with what looked like a big blanket lying across her chest.

"Alfendi, darling," his Mother said. "Come here. Come and meet your new sister."

In complete shock, Alfendi walked over and stood by the side of the bed, next to his Mother. Alfendi peered into the blanket and saw a tiny, red face peeking out of the fluffy white fabric.

"She's sleeping right now," Claire said to Alfendi, "But I'm sure she's very pleased to meet you."

Alfendi's baby sister may have been sleeping during their first encounter, but after that Alfendi felt that she _never_ slept. There always seemed to be the sound of the infant crying, whenever and wherever Alfendi was. Whenever he woke up in the morning, he was awoken to the sound of the baby crying in the next bedroom over; when he was dropped off at school in the family car, the baby sat in the carseat next to him, screaming loudly; whenever he got home, he walked into the front door of the house to the sound of her wails; when he went to bed he found it too hard to settle down with the sound of the baby's cries coming from another part of the house. He even woke up in the middle of the night to her cries one some nights!

It was getting ridiculous. Two weeks on and it seemed all his baby sister ever did was scream. This was made even more troublesome and irritating when Alfendi himself had something to complain about, or there was some other reason he desired attention.

"Mum! I need help with my science homework!"

"Not now, Alfendi, your sister's hungry."

"Dad, the wheel on my bicycle has a puncture."

"It'll have to wait, Alfendi. Your Mother's having a rest and I can't leave your sister unattended."

"Mum, when's dinner? I'm hungry!"

"Later! Your sister needs her dinner first."

"But I'm hungry, too!"

And that comment would be responded to with a stern glare.

Alfendi sighed and sat down on the sofa one day after coming home from school. He was fed up. He was angry. He felt lonely. There the new baby was, who did absolutely nothing and yet got absolutely everything! Whereas on the other hand he went to school, tried his hardest everyday (he was one of the top students in his class!) and was now completely ignored. If he was hungry, he had to wait hours for dinner or get something himself, but how could he do that when he was busy relaxing after a hard day at school or doing some homework? It just wasn't fair.

"Alfendi, I need a favour," his Mother said one day after he'd come home from school. She walked into the living room, holding the infant in her arms and carefully strapping her into a small chair which had a gentle bounce to it.

His baby sister was about two weeks old by now and was fed up. He'd had a hard day at school and just wanted some peace and quiet. Luckily, it seemed to be one of those rare moments were the baby was sleeping and he was able to watch television without the subtitles on.

"What is it?" Alfendi said with a slight groan.

"Your Father's stuck at the University. Some big issue and important meeting or something, but I really need a nap. Can you watch your sister whilst I go and have a rest upstairs?" Claire said.

"Do I have to?" Alfendi moaned.

"Yes. It would be such a big help, Alfendi," his Mother replied. "Look, it's easy. All you need to do is make sure Bella stays away from her. If she wakes up and begins to cry, go and sit by her. Sometimes she just doesn't want to be lonely. If she doesn't stop, then you can come and get me. Is that easy enough?"

"Fine..." Alfendi said, using the television remote to turn the volume on the television down a few notches; he didn't want his sister waking up and crying.

"Thank you, Alfendi," Claire said with a smile. "Your Father should be home in an hour, but I doubt I'll be more than half an hour. Okay?"

"Uhuh," Alfendi said, barely listening. He was already sucked back in by his television programme.

He remained that way for twenty minutes, simply watching the TV and hoping that he wasn't disturbed by his sister. Sadly, the peace and quiet couldn't last forever it seemed, as the baby began to cry. With a sigh, Alfendi jumped down off of the sofa and shuffled over and sat down in front of the baby.

"What's wrong baby? Why are you crying?" Alfendi sighed, sincerely hoping she would stop so he could return to watching his TV show in peace. "Are you hungry? Don't be hungry. Mum's upstairs sleeping."

Alfendi sighed again, as the cries continued.

"Why do you cry so much, anyway? It's me who should be crying. You always cry and now I always have a headache!" Alfendi exclaimed, his head resting on his hands, as he watched his baby sister's crumpled face continue to cry.

"I know!" Alfendi said and suddenly got up and sprinted upstairs. He was as fast as he could, knowing that although he didn't care too much for his baby sister, it probably wasn't a good idea to leave a two week old baby on its own.

He was back down within thirty seconds with a small teddy bear. The teddy had been sitting on his top shelf for years now and he was careful to blow any dust off of the soft toy before holding out the small blue teddy to his sister.

"Hey, you see this. This was my first teddy bear. Grandma and Grandpa got it for me. Cool, huh?" Alfendi said.

And then suddenly something amazing happened.

She stopped crying.

"You like him, huh?" Alfendi said with a small smile. He was pretty proud of himself for coming up with that idea on his own. "Here... We can share him."

Alfendi carefully- very, very carefully- lifted up his sister's arm and tucked under the blue bear.

The crying didn't start again, but instead, she made another noise. It wasn't quite a giggle, it was more a gurgle. Perhaps she was trying to laugh, but she didn't know how yet. Eitherway, it was certainly a happy noise. And Alfendi couldn't help but be happy himself.

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 **AN: Hope you all enjoyed this. Feel free to leave a word or two (or three, or four, of five) in a review for a future chapter.**

 **Nikki~**


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